


A Princess and a Guy Like Me

by CallieB



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Harringrove for Raices, M/M, Memory Loss, Protective Billy Hargrove, Softness, Star Wars references if you squint, The Upside Down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 16:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20678570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallieB/pseuds/CallieB
Summary: "Yesterday, there was a person walking around in this town and you all knew him. I saw him yesterday, okay?Yesterday.And then today I’m supposed to meet him, and no one knows who he is anymore. Which means he’s in trouble, it’s got to be something bad, and Jesus fuck, we have to do something!”





	A Princess and a Guy Like Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ihni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ihni/gifts).

> Thank you to the beautiful [ihni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ihni/pseuds/Ihni) for their RAICES donation! They asked me to pick a prompt from [this](https://ihni.tumblr.com/tagged/tropes) nifty list of tropes - this story actually draws inspiration from a few of them, because they're awesome, but the most specific one I used is:
> 
> "A character that has so far not been shown to care, suddenly going all mama-bear protective over another character when they’re in danger."
> 
> Enjoy, and thank you again for your donation!

“Harrington,” Billy says, sly, over his shoulder, while Harrington rolls his eyes and watches Billy from behind the counter at the video store. The chick he’s such good friends with now - Robin, Billy _ knows _her name, but it gets Harrington going when he pretends he doesn’t - laughs, nudges Harrington with her shoulder.

He doesn’t like it, how close they are, but he doesn’t know why. Steve said - _ it’s not like that, Hargrove_, and then he’d stopped, like he wasn’t sure why he was explaining himself.

“Billy,” Harrington says. It’s just him in the store this time - it’s a Tuesday, so Robin is at school. Harrington glances at the clock. “I’m going home.”

Billy’s hands are shaking, just a little. “Well, shit, Harrington,” he says flippantly. “Kicking out a paying customer?”

“You’re not a paying customer,” Harrington says, but he’s got this smile on his face, this tiny amused knowing smile, and it’s making Billy’s stomach feel weird. “You don’t pay for shit.”

He walks out from behind the counter, and Billy falls into step with him, waits while Harrington flips off the lights and locks the door. Harrington should ask what he’s doing - why is he waiting? Their cars are parked right outside, neither of them need an escort. But he doesn’t say anything.

“You should recommend me something,” Billy says, in some lame attempt to pick up the thread of the conversation they’re not really having. “Isn’t that your job, King Steve? Recommend me a movie to watch sometime.”

Harrington glances from left to right, and then confesses: “I haven’t seen many of the movies here.”

Billy laughs, and after a second, Harrington grins too. “You work in a video store,” he points out unnecessarily.

“I just never found the time,” Harrington says. He glances at Billy. “Robin always says she’ll watch something with me, but we never do.”

“I’ll watch something with you,” Billy says, without thinking. 

There’s a brief silence, where the sound of Billy’s thudding heart seems to fill the cool evening air around them. He waits to take it back, to swallow it down - but then Steve says: “Okay.”

“Okay,” Billy says, and he’s smiling. “Okay, Harrington.”

They’ve reached their cars now, and Steve fumbles with his keys. He’s blushing, a little swell of pink on his cheeks, and Billy… Billy likes it. 

“See you tomorrow, Billy,” Steve says, eyes on the floor but that little smile still touching his mouth. 

Billy could argue - there’s no guarantee he’ll be at the video store tomorrow. There’s a thousand other things he could go and do. They don’t have any kind of arrangement. 

He doesn’t argue. “See you tomorrow, Harrington,” he says.

Steve meets his eyes, and there’s something liquid and warm in his gaze. Quick, so quick that Billy doesn’t have time to do anything but blink, Steve darts forward, and his lips touch Billy’s cheekbone. They’re soft, and it’s not the kind of thing two guys who don’t really like each other do, but before Billy can figure any of it out Steve has pulled away again, and he’s getting into his car. 

Billy touches the place on his face where Steve kissed him. It feels like he’s burning.

He picks Max up from the Sinclair place, and she wrinkles her nose at him. “You look happy,” she says suspiciously; they’re alright now, mostly alright, but she’s still wary with him and he hasn’t done much to fix it. 

“I am,” he answers, and he’s surprised to find it’s true.

His dad - his dad is his dad, not Billy’s biggest fan, but tonight it feels like it doesn’t matter. He escapes after dinner and nothing bad happens. Billy lies on his bed, stares up at the ceiling, touches his cheek and finds a smile on his face.

Keith is behind the counter when Billy gets to the video store the next day. They regard each other with disdain; Billy skulks by the door for a few minutes, but when Harrington hasn’t shown he has to approach.

“Hargrove,” Keith says warily. “You looking for a movie?”

Billy rolls his eyes. Keith has seen him and Steve hanging out here enough not to need to ask. “Harrington here?” he asks.

“Who?” Keith says.

“Not in the mood, man,” Billy says impatiently. “He here?”

Keith stares at him. “It’s just me today,” he says slowly. 

Billy scratches his head. Harrington hadn’t specifically said he’d be at work, but - _ see you tomorrow, Billy_. He’s not really in the mood to go looking, but maybe that’s the point. Maybe after - after that kiss, that quick darting kiss that still scorches Billy’s cheek, maybe he’s changed his mind.

Fuck that. Billy slopes out of the store without bothering to say goodbye to Keith.

Harrington’s house is dark and quiet, and Harrington’s car isn’t there, so Billy doesn’t bother stopping. He checks the diner, and the junkyard, and then just kind of circles around town for an hour or so looking out for the familiar brown sedan.

By the time the clock on his dashboard hits five, Billy’s getting pissed. And worried. Steve never said he wouldn’t be at work, he’d smiled - he’d _ kissed _Billy, and fuck, but they’ve been building up to it for months now and he can’t - he doesn’t get to—

Billy heads to the Byers’ place.

Jonathan’s car is there, and there are a stack of bicycles outside suggesting that the kids have made an appearance too. Billy automatically looks out for Harrington’s car, but it’s not there. It’s not there, and now Billy is a familiar mix of heartbeat scared and _ angry_, because if Harrington changed his mind the least he could do is fucking say it. But shit, _ fuck_, why has he changed his mind?

He pounds on the door, probably harder than he should, but his heart is pounding now and he doesn’t give a shit. When it opens, though, he feels bad; it’s Mrs Byers, and she’s always way too nice to him.

“Billy,” she says, all smiles and thick hair. “Come on in!”

He comes in. Mrs Byers has a way of making him feel awkward, but in an oddly good way; kind of like he should be polite, or try harder, and sometimes she touches his arm in a way that makes his eyes prickle. She closes the door behind him. 

“Is Steve here?” he asks, even though he knows the answer. 

She frowns at him. “Who?” she says. “Jonathan and Nancy are in his room.”

Billy stares at her, but she doesn’t look like she’s messing with him, so he just heads to Jonathan’s bedroom. Nancy still isn’t his biggest fan, but he gets on with Jonathan pretty well these days. It’s not unusual for him to stop by after Jonathan is finished with his internship for the day.

He knocks on the door before pushing it open, in case Jonathan and Nancy are doing something embarrassing like making out. When he goes in, though, they’re just sitting on his bed, looking at some magazines and talking quietly.

“Hey,” Jonathan says, smiling up at him. Like mother, like son.

“Do you know where Steve is?” Billy asks without preamble, because at this point he’s actually feeling more fear than anger.

Jonathan blinks at him. “Who?”

Third time’s a fucking charm. Billy clenches his fists, nails digging into his palms. “Steve Harrington,” he says fiercely.

Jonathan and Nancy exchange bewildered glances. “I don’t know him,” Jonathan says. Nancy’s shaking her head.

“Seriously?” Billy exclaims. “You used to _ date _him, for fuck’s sake!”

Nancy stares. “What?”

“Jesus Christ,” Billy says. He sits down heavily on the edge of the bed. “Jesus _ fucking _Christ. Something is really fucking wrong.”

Jonathan is instantly alert, pushing himself up on his elbows. “What do you mean?”

Billy rubs his forehead. “Neither of you remember him?” he asks. “Neither of you remember Steve?”

“Who _ is _Steve?” Nancy says, and no, it’s clear she’s not faking the total confusion in her voice.

“You need to call El,” Billy says, instead of answering her. “You need to call her right now.”

El comes with Chief Hopper, which usually would bother Billy but in a situation like this it’s a relief to see some authority. Max is with them as well; she glares at Billy as she jumps out of the cruiser. He reels a little at the sight of it, because they’re not perfect, they’re not great, but ever since everything they’ve been _ better_, better than this. But now it’s like she doesn’t know him anymore.

And maybe she doesn’t. Because if he’s the only one who remembers Steve, if no one else knows who Harrington is and what he’s done, maybe they don’t remember the ways Billy has changed as well. After all, so much of it is wrapped up in Steve.

“Kid,” Hopper growls at him when he comes inside the Byers’ place. Billy can’t tell if that’s any different; Hopper has never liked him.

“What’s going on, sweetheart?” Mrs Byers asks, closing the front door, and Billy looks around at them all and swallows. They’ve waited for everyone to get here, because Upside Down problems are group problems, and now that he’s surrounded by kids he doesn’t know what to say.

He bites his lip, hard. “Steve,” he croaks. “Steve Harrington.”

Jonathan and Nancy exchange glances. Max says irritably: “Who?”

“You know him,” Billy says. “You know who he is.” He points at Dustin. “You’re _ obsessed _with him.”

Dustin just stares blankly. “What?”

“God fucking _ damn _ it.” He has to restrain himself from pounding his fist against the wall; it won’t help, and he needs someone to believe him. “I don’t fucking know how, but you’ve all forgotten him. No one remembers him except me. Which means something _ bad _has happened.”

“Slow down,” Jonathan says. Billy glowers at him. “I mean, just… just start from the beginning, okay?”

Billy makes a frustrated sound. “I don’t know what the beginning _ is_,” he all but shouts. “Okay, Byers, listen up, okay? Yesterday, there was a person walking around in this town and you all knew him. He helped fight off the fucking demo-whatevers, three times! Three fucking times, _ all _ the times, he’s been there. He dated your little princess there before you did, he saved a bunch of lives, little mophead over there is somehow one of his best friends, he works at the video store with Robin Buckley. I saw him yesterday, okay? _ Yesterday_. And then today I’m supposed to meet him, and no one knows who he is anymore. Which means he’s in trouble, it’s got to be something bad, and Jesus fuck, we have to do something!”

There’s a silence, and Billy can’t look at them. He knows they have to process what he’s saying, but he can’t bear to look up and see disbelief on their faces. They can’t stop believing in Steve. 

“Did you say I… used to _ date _this guy?” Nancy says at last, voice hesitant.

Billy doesn’t look up. “Yep,” he says tightly. He frowns. “Do you remember dating anyone before Byers?”

“No,” she says, but she sounds troubled, and Billy finally risks looking at her. “I don’t… I can’t think.”

“Barb,” he says desperately. “Your friend Barb, she went missing, right? You remember that?”

Her face twists. “I remember,” she says.

“You were at Harrington’s house,” he presses. “She was sitting by the pool, while you were upstairs with Steve. You remember?”

She looks at Jonathan. “Barb went missing,” she says slowly. “It wasn’t… I can’t remember where she was.” Her eyes widen. “I can’t remember.”

Billy turns to Dustin. “What about you?” he demands. “Last year, when you kept the pet monster, or whatever. It escaped, and you asked Steve for help.”

“I looked for Dart on my own,” Dustin says, but he sounds uncomfortable.

“Yeah, you think?” Billy says angrily. He gestures expansively to the other kids. “You were stuck in some… some bus, or something, and he protected you. You don’t remember that?”

“I remember the bus,” Max says. “The demodogs left us alone. They didn’t attack us.”

Billy’s fists clench. “Yeah, and why not?”

She frowns. “I’m not… I don’t remember,” she says finally.

“Kid,” Hopper says harshly, and it sounds like he’s going to try and stop Billy talking, and Billy can’t, he can’t let that happen.

He says hastily: “What about me, huh? You all hate me, right? Why do you hate me? Do you even remember?”

Max folds her arms, and the Sinclair kid says in a hard voice: “You were a dick to Max.”

“Yeah, and you tried to kill Lucas!” Mike exclaims.

“Right, but I didn’t,” Billy says. “Because Steve stopped me.”

“Max stopped you,” Lucas says obstinately. “She drugged you.”

Billy’s voice is shaking. “Okay, but _ how_?” he demands. “I was distracted, Steve was fighting me. I knocked him out, but while I was busy with him Max drugged me. Think about it. Think about it!” He turns to Hopper. “You arrested me for that, for beating the shit out of him. Do you remember that?”

“I arrested you alright,” Hopper says heavily, but there’s confusion in his voice as well. “I took you home.”

“Yeah, and my dad beat the crap out of me,” Billy says. “You remember that, Max? But why did he do that, why was I arrested?”

Max glances at the others. “I can’t remember,” she says.

“Did you say your dad _ beat _you?” Mrs Byers interjects.

Billy ignores her, can’t address that, not now. “None of you can remember,” he says. “Because Steve is _ real_.”

There’s a silence.

Then El speaks, and for the first time the grip of desperation eases, just a little, because she says: “I can find him.”

“We don’t even know he’s real,” Mike objects. “It’s dangerous.”

“Oh my _ God_, not this again,” Max says, rolling her eyes.

“I’m just saying!” Mike says defensively. “Even if this Steve guy _ is _real, that makes it even worse! What if something is out there? What if there’s a reason none of us can remember him?”

Max opens her mouth like she’s going to argue, eyebrows in a line across her forehead, and then she stops, bites her lip. She turns to Billy. “You remember him,” she says.

“Yeah, thank fuck, so can we concentrate on finding him?” Billy says impatiently. 

“No, she’s right,” Nancy says, leaning forward. “Why do _ you _remember him?”

He stares at her. “What?”

She shrugs. “Well, you said I used to date him, and Dustin is his best friend,” she says. “Isn’t that weird, that his best friends don’t remember him and you do? Why you?”

“What the fuck does it matter?” he says angrily. “I do remember him.”

“Why do you even care?” Max asks. “Why do you care about finding him?”

Billy glares at her. “We’re friends,” he says tightly. 

“Friends,” Dustin says disbelievingly. “You said you beat him up.”

“Yeah, well, so did Jonathan, and they’re friends now too,” Billy says. “None of this fucking matters, okay? We just need to find him. He’s in trouble.”

El sits forward. “I’m going to look,” she says.

“El…” Mike says, but she glances at him, and he subsides.

She takes the coloured scarf she’s wearing in her hair and wraps it around her eyes. Billy waits, heart beating; Mike holds El’s hand, and they watch. It’s fucking excruciating, because there’s nothing he can do, nothing he can say. He doesn’t have El’s powers. He can’t look for Steve. And if she can’t find him… he has no idea what the next step is. No idea where to go from here.

Blood starts to trickle from her nose.

“Steve?” she whispers, and his heart leaps, but then she says it again, and he realises that she’s calling for him. She hasn’t found him. “Steve Harrington?”

He hates how unfamiliar the name sounds on her lips. None of them know Steve, none of them understand that he saved them, he saved the fucking world, he saved _ Billy_, and if they don’t remember - if they don’t remember _ Steve_—

“I don’t like this,” Hopper grumbles, but Mrs Byers puts her hand on his arm, and Billy just wants to hug her.

“Steve?” El says again, but - there’s something different, this time, in the way she’s saying it, and Billy falls to his knees in front of her, as close as he can get without touching her. “Is that you, Steve?”

“Steve?” Billy says, even though he knows that no one can hear him except the people in the room, and he doesn’t give a shit about them. “Steve!”

El sucks in a breath. “I found you,” she says softly. There are audible gasps around the room, but Billy doesn’t care, he doesn’t care. “I’m here.”

“Steve!” Billy cries out. There’s a hand on his shoulder, though he doesn’t know whose it is.

“Yes,” El says, and this time she sounds surprised. “Yes, it’s Billy. He’s here.”

It’s like a knife to the heart; Billy is desperate to reach out, but there’s nowhere to go, no one to touch. 

“He remembers you,” El says, but it’s not to Billy. She’s talking to Steve. “He’s looking for you.” She shifts a little. “_Oh_,” she breathes, and then her free hand reaches out for Billy’s. “_Oh_, I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?” Max asks, but El doesn’t answer. Her hand is very warm in Billy’s own.

“I’ll tell him,” she says. There’s the ghost of a smile on her face. “He’s coming for you. Hold on, Steve.”

She lets go of Billy’s hand, tugging the scarf down from her eyes. Whatever spell of stillness had been presiding over the room, it’s shattered now. The kids all start talking at once, and El wipes her nose on the back of her hand.

“Where is he?” Billy asks quietly. 

She looks back at him. There’s something timeless in her eyes. “He loves you,” she says.

The room falls silent again; Billy’s stomach clenches and jolts. He says, truthfully: “I know.”

“Did you say _ love_?” Max asks loudly.

Billy can’t look away from El. “Where is he?” he says again. 

They all go together, out to the place in the woods where El has found Steve. No one wants to be left behind. Billy sits in the back of Hopper’s cruiser with Max and Mike; El is in the front seat, staring out of the window like she’s still lost in that otherworldly place where Steve is. Billy’s heart is thudding painfully in his chest.

“So he is real, then,” Mike says, interrupting the quiet of the car. 

Max rolls her eyes. “Oh my God, Mike, obviously,” she says. 

“I’m just asking!” he exclaims. “How come we all forgot him?”

“The nowhere,” El says in a faint voice. “He fell, and it took him.”

The Chief moves, a frown on his face. “You closed the portal,” he says. “Didn’t we close the portal?”

“Yes,” El says. “He’s not in the Upside Down.”

“So where is he?” Mike asks.

“An in between place,” she says, because that’s not vague at all. “A hole left over from the Upside Down. It’s not… it’s not this world, and it’s not the Upside Down. It’s nowhere.”

Billy leans forward. “How did he get there?”

She shrugs. “He fell,” she says. “It was an accident. But we all forgot because… because it’s nowhere.”

“Billy didn’t forget,” Max points out.

“He held onto you,” El says. She smiles. “And you held onto him.”

It doesn’t make any fucking sense. Billy doesn’t care. Maybe they can explain it later, but right now… right now the only thing he cares about is Steve. Steve is trapped, Steve fell in a hole to nowhere - and Jesus, isn’t that just like him? When he’s back, when they all see him again, Billy is going to make fun of him for it, for falling into a hole by accident and causing all this fuss. When he’s back. Billy is going to get him back.

“We’re here,” Hopper says, pulling the cruiser up by a patch of trees. Billy is out of the car before the Chief can turn the engine off.

“He’s worse than you,” he hears Max say to Mike, but he doesn’t care. They’ll understand, when Steve is back.

El leads the way through the trees, and that’s when Billy sees it. The space, at the base of an enormous pine tree, that shouldn’t be there. It’s dark, and it’s nothing, and he understands why Steve might have stopped to stare at it, might have wanted to look a little closer.

Might have fallen inside.

“Don’t fall,” El warns him. “If you fall, we’ll forget you too.”

“I don’t care,” Billy says, and he doesn’t. He doesn’t care if the whole world forgets him, as long as he’s in the nowhere with Steve.

Still, he’s careful. Mrs Byers joins them, with Jonathan and Nancy and the other kids, and they make a line, linking arms together. Hopper has his arms wrapped around Billy’s shins, and Billy - Billy reaches down, down into the nowhere, and looks for Steve.

It’s not dark inside, but he can’t see anything anyway. It’s not cold. It’s nothing. 

“Steve!” he yells. “Steve!”

He shouts for him until his throat is aching, until tears are dripping down his face, but he won’t stop. He can feel Hopper’s grip on his legs, can dimly hear voices somewhere above him, out in the world, but none of it is important.

“STEVE!” he screams.

And then, in the nothing, his fingers touch flesh. And a voice, soft, frail, but real and alive and there, says: “Billy?”

They help him pull Steve out, and as he emerges into the dappled sunlight of the woods, he can hear them remember him. But Billy isn’t thinking about that. He’s thinking about Steve, who looks a little battered and a little dirty and very lost. He’s thinking that Steve’s hair is completely messed up, and his jeans are too tight, and he has that _ look _in his eyes that makes Billy’s chest constrict.

“Billy,” Steve says. Dustin is hugging him, but he’s not really responding. He smiles. “_Billy_.”

“Yeah,” Billy says. And that’s when he smiles. Not just smiles; _ grins_, his face splitting into a jaw-aching grin that shows his teeth and changes his face into something different.

Slowly, Steve gets to his feet. “Thanks for finding me,” he says.

Billy wants to touch him. And he will.

“I love you too,” he says.

Max giggles.

Steve smiles.

“I know,” he says.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://13callieb.tumblr.com/) to cry about Harringrove.


End file.
